botnet

American

[bot-net] / ˈbɒtˌnɛt /

noun

Computers.

a network of computers created by malware and controlled remotely, without the knowledge of the users of those computers.

The botnet was used primarily to send spam emails.
Hackers built the botnet to carry out DDoS attacks.

botnet British

/ ˈbɒtˌnɛt /

noun

(sometimes with a capital) a network of computers infected by a program that communicates with its creator in order to send unsolicited emails, attack websites, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of botnet

First recorded in 1990–95 in earlier sense “a network of bots”; bot ¹ + net(work)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

We dubbed this the “fox8” botnet after one of the fake news websites it was designed to amplify.

From Salon

That giant botnet, called Kimwolf, is the most powerful ever assembled, said Chad Seaman, a security researcher at the networking company Akamai.

From The Wall Street Journal

It followed a massive takedown in 2021 of a botnet called Emotet, Eurojust said.

From Seattle Times

A botnet is a network of hijacked computers typically used for malicious activity.

From Seattle Times

“It is an impressive takedown. Qakbot was the largest botnet” in number of victims, said Alex Holden, founder of Milwaukee-based Hold Security.

From Seattle Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023